Is this the most fashionable place to get a tattoo?

Neck tattoos are the growing trend in fashion circles that you’re either going to love or hate

When it comes to tattoos, location matters. Case point, the sketch of a flower positioned on your lower back versus that same sketch printed on your inner bicep. Various factors such as visibility carry social significance, which brings us to the latest piece of tattoo real-estate that is trending in fashion circles - the neck. And we're not talking back of neck, we're talking front of neck look-how-bad-I-am situation. So where has this rebellious trend come from?

"We used to call them job stoppers," JonBoy of New York City's Bang Bang Tattoo told Fashionista. "You weren't allowed to get your neck tattooed until you basically had your whole body tattooed," JonBoy explained of the honour codes of tattooing that were followed way back when.

Today, the types of tattoos being asked for and the techniques used have changed. The lines are finer and the imagery is softer and more abstract. "In the 18 years I've done this, I've always been told that neck tattoos were trashy, but it wasn't until I started doing these small fine line tattoos where people started to realize, 'Oh, this can look cute, and this can look sophisticated, as long as you do it right,'" JonBoy told Fashionista.

JonBoy was the man behind Sofia Richie's neck tattoo; the word 'clarity' finely printed in type letters to the side of her neck. A quick post to Instagram and voila, a trend was born. Other stars donning a printed neck include Halsey who has scripted 'I'm a loser, baby' on the side of her neck (an ode to the famous 1994 song by Beck), and model Avie Acosta who has the word 'brave' written across the centre of her neck.